In today’s online world, there’s a place for almost everyone to connect, whether you’re into gaming, blogging, research, or just browsing YouTube. In these online spaces, however, women often find themselves navigating a landscape fraught with societal pressures, particularly concerning weight. Whether they’re recording themselves in front of a camera or anonymous behind a keyboard, women frequently encounter scrutiny over their appearance, with comments on weight serving as a prominent point of contention. Despite the strides made towards inclusivity and body positivity, the digital sphere remains a battleground where women grapple with the complexities of self-image and external judgment.
This research asks the question:
How does perceived weight affect audience reactions in the comment sections of female mukbang YouTubers?
To complete this research, two main variables need to be identified. The independent variable in this situation is the perceived weight of a YouTuber. This was found by sorting through the comments as well as self-identifications of weight from the YouTubers themselves. The dependent variable here is the audience’s reactions to the video. This has been examined by completing basic and interpretive content analyses on different comments on mukbang videos from different creators to understand what themes are present among the different videos and creators. Themes like fasting, dieting, emoji use, uplifting comments, and more are identified through these comments to see if different themes are present among perceived thin YouTubers and perceived not thin YouTubers. This frame of thin versus not thin allowed the research to be separated among different perceived weight categories to show the differences between audience reactions by looking at the unit of analysis for this project, which is YouTube comments.
The findings of this research generally found harsher reactions towards not-thin mukbang YouTubers as opposed to thin mukbang YouTubers. This is important because we need to understand how important weight is as a factor in society and how people are treated based on their weight to create a more accepting society.